World Juniors Hockey...

[billybek]

Congrats to Team Finland for their gold medal victory over the Russians. Well played game by both sides needing overtime to secure the victory by the Finns.

Congrats also to Team USA for taking the Bronze medal by beating the Swedes. The Team Sweden looked unbeatable after going undefeated in preliminary rounds. They didn't look as good against the Finns in the semi final or in the bronze but a very big and strong team.

Always one of my favorite tourneys to watch. The emotion and the momentum swings during the games are exciting to watch.

Team Canada on the other hand had a lot of talent but were lacking discipline during most of their matches. Watching them was frustrating and a little like watching the Flames from a few years back cycling the puck in the corners without any production.

[1990C4S]

There are dozens of issues with the Canadian team. I could list them, but Hockey Canada is beyond criticism.

What the heck...

Terrible goal-tending (again) but they never pulled the goalie.
Terrible penalty killing.
Not prepared to play on the larger ice surface.
Only CHA players, no college players. Again.
Not ready to play elite teams (the CHA is watered down, and the forwards looked frustrated when their CHA skills were met with good defense.
TSN turining this into a multi-million viewer pressure cooker for their own fiscal benefit
No national program for the most elite players.
No discipline, nothing was done about the poor discipline until the last shift of the last game...
Etc.

But what do I know.